Finally, after procastinated for over 2 months, I had posted some of my unwanted toys on eBay last week. The auctions end today, half of the items are sold. The macross toys are very popular, I am able to make a small profit on all of them. Even the broken one, but still minted in box, is sold at a price higher than I had expected. I have less luck with Gundam models. Probably models get out of fashion fast while diecast toys become classics. For the unsold models, I have to lower the price and relist the items again. Once again, I confirm the theory that the value of Bandai’s toys never go up. The problem with Bandai is the company tends to re-produce its toys every now and then, even on limited editions. People learn to wait for a re-issue rather than paying the hefted price. The price of toy is strictly governed by supply and demand. The question is which one is a better strategy for a toy company. Milk the last cent in the market by killing the second hand market or keep a healthy second hand market to create a premium band.
For those who are interested, here is a link to my auctions
Lately, a video clip taken by a cell phone is very popular in HK. The clip is knowned as the “Bus Uncle”. It is about a middle age man swearing and scolding a young guy who asked him to lower his voice on phone on a bus. I have watched the clip a couple weeks ago. I don’t expect it become a phenomena in HK. Radio talk shows invited the young guy for interview. People on the net subtitle the clip with chinese and english, create posters cross over the “bus uncle” with popular movies, remix the lines from the clip with a rap song. Someone even make commercial products with bus uncle’s logo. Then, a number of cultural experts comments on this incident follows, and turn it into an academic research, desect the cause and impact of this incident until no rocks is left unturn. I have no interest in commenting this incident, or I would have done so the first time I see the clip. I just have one belief comments about the comments of this incident. No matter how nonsense the topic is, there is always ways to package it as serious issue worth understanding and capture the attention of millions people.
Today the movie Da Vinci’s code has became one of the most talked topics at work. Apparently many people has already seen the movies over the opening weekend. It seems many of them shares the same disappointment as I do. Somehow the conversation leads to the appearance of Jesus during lunch. One of my christian friend quote the book of Isaiah claiming Jesus doesn’t look good. Me and another christian disagree. Jesus gota look at leat ok, otherwise how can he be charming leader attract thousands of fellowers? I use the movie Passion of Christ as a counter example. We all know James Caviezel is really handsome. Then she claim that Mel Gibson havn’t seen Jesus, I counter argue the arthor of Isaiah havn’t seen Jesus either. Then she said the book of Isaiah is written with guidance of holy spirit. I said how do you know Mel Gibson doesn’t thave the guidance of holys spirit as well? The conversation stops here and change to some other topics. However, this thought experiment exactly point out the problem of the christianity facing today. How can we know the Bible’s record of Jesus is more trust-worthy than Passion? There is no proof nor evidence other than mere word of mouths to believe in the authority of the Bible. In fact, I think the movie Passion is more accurate in historial sense than the 4 Gospels. Mel Gibson has spent years on research trying to make the movie faithfuly represent Jesus’ last moment using many sources outside of the Bible. On the other hand, the 4 Gospels are heavily edited propaganda from the church trying to brainwash the fellowers instead of merely telling the truth.
There are many types of friends, for some of them, you don’t even know you can actually call them friends, but they are not merely acquaintance. I have a friend havn’t keep in touch for a few years come to Vancouver for a bussiness meeting. I guess he must be bored in a new city, he messaged me out for a dinner. I am the type of person tends to be good to friends, so I don’t see any reason not seeing him as I am not really that busy. Anyways, this guy is quite remarkable. Back in the university day, we already crowned him as the MMJ king, as he knows every girl in the school, from grad school to year 1. To my surprise, he came to Vancouver with a friend, who is a girl. They share the same hotel room and I am quite sure nothing happens. The girl just happen to be a friend of him and visiting Vancouver the same time. They just stay together to save the hotel fee. He is also sub-lenting his place to 3 girls, a real-life love hina. I can’t explain why this guy is so popular among girls. He is fat and short, always soft spoken. Ok, he looks kinda cute, in the sense of a cute little child. Maybe exactly he presented himself as such a harmless guy, girls lower their alert when hanging out with him. They know subconciously he can never be their type. However, he is not very popular among guys. Probably a) he spent too much time with girls, and b) he is very reluctant introducing his girls to us.
Bluefin Tuna is one of most expensive dish you can find in a Japanese resturant in Vancouver. Last friday, I have dinner with friends in a classy sushi place, a dish of bluefin tuna sashimi costs $180 there. What a ridicous pirce! The waiter even dare to recommand it to my friend on the other day. Even a 50% discount would still be too expensive. Today, after picking up my mom from the airport, I went to have sushi with her in another Japanese resturant in Richmond. A dish of bluefin tuna sashimi only costs $50 there, the price is more reasonable but still too expensive. Then I see they sell bluefin tuna sushi by pieces, one for only $7. So I ordered two piece, one for myself and one for my mom to give it a try. The texture of bluefin tuna is really rich. The sushi is very smooth with fish oil locked inside the meat. It tastes even better than hamachi. I can understand now why bluefin tuna is so expensive, because it really tastes good. The supply of bluefin tuna is limited due to it is an almost extincted fish due to over fishing in the last century. Isn’t it great if scientists can find a way to mass product bluefin tuna? Bluefin tuna is now along side my line of genetic product food ideas including trees that grow chicken wings.